Polizei Identifying Reproduction Police Eagles

[W.Unland]

Hello,

Here is a short discussion on the subject I wrote a while back. I hope it is not too long nor boring.

The collecting of Third Reich materials began before the war had even ended. Service personnel in Europe were hungry to obtain ?souvenirs? of their war experience, and many actively collected relics, including police sleeve eagles. Anything with a swastika was actively sought after. Consequently; many authentic insignia were brought back to the United States and to a lesser extent Great Britain, where they eventually found their way into collectors? hands. Much of the extant insignia was also purchased by occupation era service men after the war, for the same reasons.

It did not take long for enterprising individuals to realize that there was a market for these ?NAZI? items and the widespread counterfeiting and reproduction of these relics began in the early 1950?s and continues to this day. Luckily, police insignia was basically ignored by the early forgers, as there was not a big demand for police items as they commanded relatively low prices. Collectors wanted SS, and Wehrmacht insignia, not some police or fireman?s!

That all changed in the 1980?s and 90?s when the value of police relics began to rise. With a glut of reproduction military and SS items on the market, some turned to the collecting of police and fire insignia. To encourage business it was proffered by dealers that the police were really part of the SS, so buying police items was almost the same thing after all. Besides, the other items were becoming so expensive that police and fire were the only ?reasonably? priced relics of the period still available.

Unfortunately, this increased interest in police and fire insignia and collectibles caused a dramatic increase in their market value. That increase in value caught the forger?s eye, and they have since begun churning out police insignia at ever increasing volume, and unfortunately increasing quality.

The question becomes, ?how can I determine the authenticity of a given police sleeve eagle??, and that is a question not easily answered. In the first section of this essay we examined numerous examples of police sleeve insignia that are considered to be authentic. The purpose was to consider the stylistic ?norms? accepted during the period, and to detail the manufacturing details of presumed authentic insignia in the hope that this might aide in the recognition of similar eagles encountered in the marketplace.

The other approach to recognizing the fakes and reproductions is to examine and categorize the fakes themselves, when they are discovered and identified as such. That is the approach to be taken in this section of this essay.

To begin with, some basic guidelines need to be established. It can be reasonably assumed that some of the insignia collected came from unused stocks left over in tailor?s shops and manufacturers throughout the Reich. This is particularly true of police insignia due to its widespread and localized production. Consequently ?mint? and ?unused? examples of authentic insignia most certainly found its way into collections, along with actually used insignia removed from uniforms during and after the war.

Because of this, ?condition? can not always be relied upon to aid in determining whether or not a given insignia is authentic. It is also important to remember that ?reproduction? insignia was made by original manufacturers after the war and sold as souvenirs to occupation forces. This further blurs the definition of an ?authentic? insignia as these post war examples would be indistinguishable from war time insignia.

Furthermore, in recent years, the forgers have come to realize that collectors have used ?worn condition? as a criteria to determine authenticity, and have included ?aging? and other tricks in their production process with the intent to trick consumers. To give them the right ?look? and ?feel?, some of the best reproduction police eagles have been embroidered on actual salvaged police green material, taken from used overcoats and torn tunics. Overcoats have never been popular with collectors, so they have been ?cannibalized? for their material for years. This salvaged material often displays moth grazing and holes, as well as staining and nap wear that could easily fool even an experienced collector.

As the supply of ?period? material dried up the forgers have turned to old eastern block police green materials, which they ?age? chemically, and in some instances ?shave? and cut to resemble moth grazing. They also have learned to run a sewing machine around their counterfeit sleeve eagles to make the holes that collectors look for, and often leave a thread or two dangling to complete the illusion that the eagle was cut from a tunic.

Luckily, most forgers do not go to such ends, and much of their product can be recognized after some practice. Firstly, the vast majority of reproductions look new. It is hard to make a new piece of cloth look like it ?went through a war? 60+ years ago, and most don?t go through the trouble. Consequently, any ?mint? eagle encountered should be given particular attention,. But as said above, condition is not definitive, and is only one criteria to consider.

Another important consideration when detecting reproduction insignia is the materials used in their manufacture. Most early forgeries, and most of those still produced for the ?re-enactor? market are embroidered using modern man made synthetic thread, that was not available during the Third Reich period. This synthetic thread, when un-dyed, will fluoresce when exposed to a short wavelength UV light such as those used by stamp and mineral collectors. The white bobbin threads often found on the backs of embroidered insignia will appear purplish when so tested. This is a very good indication that the eagle is not authentic. Remember though, that if the insignia was ever run through a modern washing machine or dry cleaning cycle it will likewise fluoresce . Obviously, a ?mint? sleeve eagle that is UV reactive should be dismissed.

Some suggest that a ?burn? test is also effective in determining post war materials used in forged cloth insignia. They insist that when a thread from an insignia is exposed to a flame, if it ?melts? the item is a reproduction, and if it ?burns? with a sooty residue, it is authentic. I have not personally utilized this testing method as it is inherently destructive, but I present it here in the interest of completeness.

Since condition and UV reactivity cannot be used alone to determine the authenticity of cloth materials we must of necessity turn to an analysis of pattern and design to make reasonable conclusions about a given piece of insignia.

In the early days, there were few reference materials available to collectors, and those producing reproduction police sleeve eagles were rather free in their interpretation of the design. The early forgeries were just too ?ugly?, and poorly made, and should not fool anyone that has studied the proceeding section discussing manufacturers pattern variations .

[W.Unland]

Here is an example of a readily available reproduction, presumably made for the re-enactor market, and not really designed to fool the collector. Clearly, the oversized head, and wavy body detail lines are unlike anything seen on an authentic sleeve eagle.

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Another example in colors that never existed during the actual period .

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This eagle should not fool anyone who has put any effort into studying these insignia. Unfortunately for new collectors, and those not familiar with police sleeve eagles, these are often offered at seductive prices, and are bought as authentic examples.

[W.Unland]

Here is a page from a distributor?s catalog showing this pattern of police eagle. It seems to be available in any color desired. It is believed that these are machine made in Pakistan.

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Here is another page from a catalog showing a different pattern of re-enactor police eagle that should stand out as a reproduction to even the most modestly of experienced collectors. The odd wings than ?fan out? and the inverted ?V? at the bottom of the wreath are particularly aberrant .

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[W.Unland]

The next reproduction has obviously been produced with the intent to deceive collectors. It is a forgery of the pattern type listed as type 14 in the above discussion of authentic patterns.

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As can be seen in this side by side comparison, the reproduction is of much poorer quality. The wings ?fan out? as seen on many reproductions, the small wreath around the swastika does not close at the top, the crossed ribbons at the bottom of the wreath are too thin, and the leaves have gaps between them. Furthermore, Wasserschutzpolizei eagles were NEVER produced with a jurisdiction name, certainly not with the name embroidered BELOW the eagle.

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Unfortunately this eagle has fooled many collectors, particularly those seeking the elusive Wasserschutzpolizei sleeve eagle.

The next reproduction to be examined is also one that has clearly been produced to simulate a period made insignia, with the intent to defraud the buyer. This is clearly one of the ?better? reproductions available, and it is very often seen for sale as an authentic insignia on dealer?s websites. This particular pattern is thought to originate in Germany, or the areas of the old East Germany, and is convincing on first appearance.

[W.Unland]

This particular eagle is offered in all branch colors, and generally follows period conventions regarding construction. One significant ?tell-tale? characteristic obvious from this photo is that the eagle is embroidered in the center of the background oval. When produced in ?oval? form, authentic ?blank? eagles were inevitably embroidered offset to the bottom of the oval. This was a convention to allow for the subsequent addition of a jurisdiction name should such be required by the purchaser. The other identifying characteristic of this forgery are the ?gaps? between the leaf elements of the wreath. Although type 10, as discussed above, has somewhat similar gaps in the embroidery, those on this reproduction are excessive, and easy to identify.

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This comparison with an authentic oval, un-named eagle, of the pattern that I believe is being copied (type 10 above) demonstrates this difference in position.

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[W.Unland]

These have recently begun to turn up with embroidered jurisdiction names as shown here. Again, this is an attempt to make these eagles look more ?authentic?.

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Here is a photo of the reverse of such a fake eagle. The pattern of white bobbin thread ?fill? is characteristic of this reproduction.

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As a final note concerning this pattern of reproduction. It has been verified by a rather obscure German dealer that it is in fact a forgery, and he sells them on his web site for very little money clearly identifying them as such. Unfortunately, he refused to identify its maker, or from where he obtains them, to assist in this analysis.

[W.Unland]

Here is a ?family picture? of the output of this one unknown manufacturer of ?good?

reproduction police eagles. Note that the design detailed here is prominent in the display. These are all identified by the seller in Germany as being reproductions.

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The next reproduction to be considered is also a well made attempt to deceive the potential buyer into believing it to be authentic. It has been dirtied and ?aged?, but the upswept wings and wavy body pattern, and very odd secondary wing feathers that decrease in size from top to bottom, have never been observed in an authentic eagle pattern..

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Edited June 26, 2006 by W.Unland

[W.Unland]

This somewhat similar reproduction has just appeared on the market and is being sold from the Ukraine. Luckily it is of poor quality, and the design is not even close to that of an authentic pattern. It can be expected that this eagle will improve with time, but as presented here should not fool anyone of any experience in examining these artifacts.

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This discussion will now turn to the truly scary reproduction, that fool even the most experienced of collectors. The eagles shown here is one of the finest forgeries on the market. It has been embroidered on authentic used police green material, and is an obvious attempt to reproduce the pattern identified above as type 10.

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This type of eagle began appearing many years ago, and was accepted as original until found for sale as a reproduction in Germany approximately two years ago. The ?early? runs of this eagle are nearly perfect, and when found on moth grazed wool are very convincing. That said, subsequent analysis has revealed some characteristics that make this forgery identifiable.

[W.Unland]

Firstly, as shown in the above photo they are embroidered in the center of the backing oval, a characteristic not typical in period produced insignia. Secondly, the embroidery itself has a ?stringy?, somewhat disordered appearance. This ?stringiness? is even more apparent in more recently produced examples of this fake. Here is a photo of a more recent edition of this pattern of reproduction. The overall deteriorated poor quality of the embroidery is clearly evident.

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These reproductions are produced in a variety of colors, some of which were never actually used during the Third Reich period. The quality of the backing material has deteriorated along with the quality of the embroidery. The early examples were on authentic cloth, newer examples seem to be on an off color grayish felt, as well as somewhat more convincing green. All of the recent examples appear new, and no attempt at ?aging? these has been found to date. Here is a photo of a group of newer examples, showing that they are all identical, and obviously produced on the same machine.

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[W.Unland]

There are stylistic differences between these reproductions and the authentic pattern that it most closely resembles as well. In this first photo an authentic type 10 eagle is flanked by an early edition of the reproduction on the left and a newer example on the right. Clearly these are very similar, and require close examination.

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Here is a closer view, showing the ?best? known example of this reproduction next to an authentic eagle.

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Here is a little closer view to make the differences a bit more apparent.

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[W.Unland]

Specifically, the following differences can be identified. The details are much more "muddled" on the reproduction (1), the shape of the head around the eye, and the beak are significantly different. The "dots" on the original's neck are much more pronounced (2), the neck on the original is much more angular and sharp where it meets the body (3), the "chest" area on the original is larger, and the lines denoting chest feathers are less pronounced than on the reproduction (4), the bottom of the body on the original is much more angular than that of the reproduction (5), the details of the leaves making up the wreath are more detailed on the original, and the threads making up the center lines of the leaves are spaced closer together (6), and finally, the legs are much thicker on the reproduction (7).

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The final, and perhaps most easily recognizable characteristic common to all of this pattern of reproduction is the curious ?filled in? body on the reverse as shown here. On all examples found of this fake the bobbin thread on the back ?fills in? the body of the eagle, and leaves a thread trailing from the lower body. The remainder of the reverse shows little if any of the bobbin thread. In this case the bobbin thread is white.

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[W.Unland]

Here is another, later version, of this reproduction showing the same reverse characteristics, with a brown bobbin thread, and an identically placed dangling thread.

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Yet a third example of this eagle demonstrating this readily identifiable reverse, this time on a summer HBT example of the reproduction. Clearly all of these reproductions have been produced using exactly the same machine, which has resulted in this odd ?fingerprint? that can be used to identify it.

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Here is a photo of the reverse of an authentic eagle to demonstrate the obvious differences. In this case the white bobbin thread covers the entire back of the eagle and is not limited to the back of the body.

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Clearly, this is a very good attempt at reproducing a known authentic pattern police sleeve eagle, however; with a little care the collector should be able to avoid these by paying close attention to the identifying characteristics discussed above.

Edited June 26, 2006 by W.Unland

[W.Unland]

The next eagle is equally scary in its resemblance to a known authentic pattern of police sleeve eagle. Shown here, as offered for sale on the same German web site selling the earlier discussed reproductions, it is a very good copy of the pattern identified as type 2 in the previous discussion. In fact it is so good that if it were not embroidered on an odd gray back ground material it would be almost indistinguishable from an authentic eagle. As with other reproductions it is embroidered in the center of the oval, and appears new and unused.

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Here is a side by side comparison with an authentic type 2 eagle. There are clearly some minor differences in head shapes, and the reproduction?s wings extend below the body of the eagle. The leaves of the wreath are also slightly different in shape. This remains a very scary eagle as there is little to distinguish it from an authentic example. I have been unable to obtain a photo of the reverse, but I suspect it will be found to be similar to that of the previous reproduction, as I suspect they are from the same manufacturer in Germany,

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[W.Unland]

Notice in this photo (slightly lightened to show details) that both of these reproductions appear to be embroidered on the exact same off color gray felt. As they are both for sale by the same German dealer it is not hard to speculate that they were made by the same person. It is not a very bold speculation to imagine that this manufacturer has run out of suitable material on which to embroider his fakes and has begun to use this unconvincing gray felted wool.

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Here is a third reproduction that seems to be on the same identical gray background cloth. I am personally convinced that these three, most convincing fakes, are all being produced by the same person, on the same machine.

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If we rethink the ?family portrait? of fakes presented earlier, it now takes on a more important significance. Not only does that photo represent a group of fakes being sold by one person, but quite probably also represents a sort of catalog of one particular German forger?s various patterns of reproduced police sleeve eagles.

Since the reverses of the other reproductions from this forger show ?filled in? bodies, I would predict that this latest, new forgery would display similar reverse characteristics.

[W.Unland]

As this photo shows, the two reproductions both display bodies filled in with white bobbin thread. In the green eagle?s case, and characteristic of all examples of this particular reproduction, a horizontal swatch of the eagle including body and wings , but not including the wreath areas above and below the upper and lowermost limits of the body is ?filled in?. I think it reasonable to assume that this third type of reproduction would have a similar appearance.

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Here is another example of this new reproduction, this time on a rather bright police green oval background. The forger has apparently switched to a more convincing color. It is identical to the carmine pink example shown above, and obviously of the same manufacturer. I fear with a little work this might be passed off as a good eagle to most collectors. Small details, like centering on the oval, and perhaps the reverse bobbin thread pattern become extremely important when trying to differentiate this reproduction from the authentic eagle of the same pattern.

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In conclusion, it is clear that as the forgers become more sophisticated, considerable care will have to be taken when forming an opinion as to the authenticity of a given police sleeve eagle. This discussion has touched on some of the criteria that can help in analyzing a given insignia. All of the aspects discussed, wear, pattern, materials used, and revere characteristics all make up part of the whole, and must be considered together when making any determination.

The author sincerely hopes that this analysis might be found to be of some use to collectors of Third Reich period police insignia. It is based on his own experience in the field, and no conclusions have been made that are not supported by a preponderance of the evidence in the matter. Hopefully, few mistakes have been made, but as in all subjective analyses, some errors must be expected. For any such errors that are discovered at a later date, I apologize in advance, and attest that my best effort has been put forward, and any mistakes have been inadvertent.

Collecting the cloth artifacts of the Third Reich is a hazard filled, and increasingly expensive hobby. It is imperative that all of us that share this passion put an effort into studying the objects of our interest, before spending our money on them, and then learning of our mistake after it is too late. Hopefully this small essay is a step in that direction.

Best regards,

William H. Unland

[W.Unland]

Here are a few officer's and other reproduction eagles that were not included in the original discussion.

First a General's eagle. Notice the down swept wings.

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Another, similar construction.

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And a good but commonly sold reproduction of the "crested head" pattern.

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[W.Unland]

Next a photo froma Pakistani site showing their offerings.

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Another reproduction officer's with a really odd swaztika.

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And lastly a photo from another site that I couldn't resist showing a dealer's table at a German militaria fair.

It seems you can have any name or district embroidered on your repro eagle now. I am afraid this is only going to get worse.

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I hope this hasn't been too much of a bore to the general reader. If anyone else has any photos of know reproductions to add I would encourage them to do so.

Thanks for taking a look.

Regards,

Bill Unland

[Avitas]

Thank you Bill for the extremely informative thread! I am starting to collect cloth insignia and this will be very helpful as I am eyeing up some police eagles (many are for sale on a Canadian site right now) and I need to do a little comparing. Who new so many variations of repros existed of such a relatively small corner of the TR world.

Great info!

Pat

[Scowen]

An absolutely fascinating thread Bill, thanks for taking the time to do this. In case it gets lost here is the link to the original thread that you mention above http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9405

I will also pin this to the top as I feel it's to important to be lost amongst the other threads.

Cheers

Don

[W.Unland]

Dear Don,

Thank you for the interest. Actually the references to eagle type belong to the 50 pages or so that preceded this short essay when it was originally prepared and not to my other thread here. I thought posting the entire thing here would be too long. It deals with the pattern types that I have identified to date, is a bit esoteric, and perhaps of little general interest. If you would like I can work through it and post it here on the forum. I don't know how many other police cloth collectors are about to warrant takeing up forum space.

Regards,

William Unland

Edited June 26, 2006 by W.Unland

[DanCz]

Thank you - - a most informative article.

I have been colleccting for over thirty years now and have, in my own opinion, a good collection but it contains very little cloth for the reason that I find it so hard to distinguish the genuine from the copy. I have three police eagles and I believe them genuine - - - but I dont want anymore thats for sure !! Heaven help SS cloth collectors !!! (A minefield).

[W.Unland]

Thank you - - a most informative article.

I have been colleccting for over thirty years now and have, in my own opinion, a good collection but it contains very little cloth for the reason that I find it so hard to distinguish the genuine from the copy. I have three police eagles and I believe them genuine - - - but I dont want anymore thats for sure !! Heaven help SS cloth collectors !!! (A minefield).

Hello,

As an "Eagle Weenie" I would enjoy seeing your eagles. If you would rather not post them, and you are so inclined, please scan them and send it to me by e-mail. I am always looking for new patterns to add to the database. (nz6w-unln@asahi-net.or.jp )

Yes, cloth can be VERY exasperating. I think 90% of SS related cloth is bad, and wouldn't touch it. Police has only recently come of value and attracted reproducers so there is still good available, but in a few years.....scary indeed.

Best regards,

Bill Unland

Edited June 26, 2006 by W.Unland

[Paul R]

Hi Bill,

Thank you for posting this very informative article. It is a very scary world out there!

I noticed on the table photo, a blue sleeve eagle. I have never seen... or even heard of such an insignia. Can you please give any background information on it? It is legit or a total fantasy piece?

Welcome to the GMIC!

[W.Unland]

Hi Bill,

Thank you for posting this very informative article. It is a very scary world out there!

I noticed on the table photo, a blue sleeve eagle. I have never seen... or even heard of such an insignia. Can you please give any background information on it? It is legit or a total fantasy piece?

Welcome to the GMIC!

Hello,

Total fantasy, I have no idea what it is even supposed to be. The orange on brown, white on tan, and white on black are also fantasy. Actually ANY police eagle on tan/brown is wrong (with one VERY rare exception-autobahnpolizei, which was white on SA greenish brown). The police never made a "tropical" eagle to my knowledge. I guess they are trying to make a Feldgendarmerie tropical, but I doubt they ever existed either.

These guys make a lot of things that never were. Luckily, in many cases that is how the pattern can be id'ed as repro.

Regards,

Bill U

Edited June 26, 2006 by W.Unland

[Paul R]

Thank you for the reply. I hope that they continue making such elementary mistakes!